Friday, 18 September 2009

I've been doing a spot of cleaning this morning. Just some light dusting and a bit of tidying. Nothing too tough. And while I was flicking my duster around I spotted a few things that I realise I've never shown you before.

The two little lovelies above are two of my favourite things. They were a Wedding gift from the very lovely Jane and came to us with a gorgeous pair of pillowcases which I will show you another time. I was so touched when her parcel arrived a week or so before the Wedding. So unexpected and so very kind.

This cute little boat is also a Wedding gift but one that I, sorry, we, chose ourselves. My Sis and Brother-in-law gave us vouchers from cape henley so we were able to go on a bit of a spending spree. Cape Henley have a great website, but we're lucky enough to have a wonderful shop close to us which is a treasure trove of loveliness. This little boat sits in our bathroom and I just love it.

This little pot I have had for years but it had got lost in a box that had been stored at Mum and Dads for a few years. As they have been preparing for their move, every time we have been over there lately we have been sent home with more and more of my old belongings. Seemed they had a lot of mine and my Sis's things in their loft. Hmm, don't know how happened! Apparently now we have our own homes they don't want to be a free storage facility anymore? How unreasonable. Anyway, looking through some of these boxes, I have come accross a few treasures. As well as a few things heading straight for the recycling bin! This pretty little rose covered pot was one of the keepers and I'm so glad to have found it again.

Finally, two lovely CK goodies. I just love and adore this tea pot and milk jug in one of my favourite designs. They were bought for me by a a few of my friends on my hen do. This was something so unexpected. My hen do was really quite low key and I never expected pressies. So being passed one of those exciting pale blue bags with the red writing as I finished yet another scone, was quite a delight. Even more so when I untied the red ribbon and peeled back the tissue paper to reveal these.

Well I must dash. I'm expecting my Mother, Father and Sister-in-law shortly as well as my youngest nephew. They've been lovely this week popping in a couple of times because they know I'm missing my Mum and Dad and Sis and family who are all away on holiday together in Devon this week. So they'll be here soon and we're going off on a lovely walk down a disused railway line to do a bit of berry hunting. I'm not sure that we're not a bit too late for blackberries and too early for picking the sloes. But as the sun is shining it will be a lovely day anyway. Hopefully I'll find enough berries to make Simon just a little crumble as he's at work and missing out on the walk.

Thursday, 17 September 2009

Sorry this has been a while coming. I promised some photos from our little holiday in Dorset a week or so ago. No particular order to them. Just a few random shots taken on two walks we did from our campsite. Can't wait to go back there again.

Loved these cows. They may have been laying down but luckily it didn't rain.
I could sit looking at this view all day.
I'd love to live in this little cottage but it's actually the village hall. How sweet is that.
Cute calves.
Lovely ducks by the village pond.

Tuesday, 15 September 2009

I'm feeling a little nervous. I'm not sure I should be writing this. You might all send me to coventry and stop reading my blog for mentioning this. In fact, I'm not even going to say the word.

Hopefully the pictures will let you know what I'm thinking about. What I'm doing today. A lot of research, designing and planning. Far earlier than I've ever done in the past because I don't want to miss the boat with potential sales.

Dare I say it, although our own C******** is going to be very scaled back due to lack of job, I'm feeling rather excited this morning by the ideas I have for what I'm going to make.

Monday, 14 September 2009

Our garden has suddenly got a very autumnal feel to it, especially after I had a good tidy up and cut back yesterday. We had the strangest weather over the weekend. Gloriously hot and sunny on Saturday so that we sat outside and pottered and even ate dinner outside, then yesterday it was dull and rather chilly and extremely autumnal.

As well as the blooms in the garden I've got a couple of lovely ones for inside too. After a trip to Mum and Dads last weekend we came home with these two gorgeous rose prints that used to be my Grandma's. They're been in Mum and Dads loft for a few years but with their imminent move they're having a clear out. I'd forgotten these prints until now but can picture them on the walls of the bedroom Catherine and I used to sleep in when we stayed with them. I probably thought they were terribly old fashioned at the time but now I just love them. The frames need a lick of paint and then they will adorn our bedroom walls. Much to Simon's dismay!

Aren't they gorgeous?

The sun is out again today so I'm off up to my work room now to get on with more new things for the shop. Have a lovely Monday. x

PS~ Just to say how lovely it is to hear from so many new people. Even after all this time of blogging, I love to discover new blogs to visit. I really do appreciate every comment that is left here. It's lovely to hear from you all. Thank you for all the kind comments about my latest creations and about poor dear Fatboy. Still no sign of him but we keep hoping. x

Thursday, 10 September 2009

Firstly, thank you for the kind comments on my earlier post. There is still no sign of Fat Boy but we're not giving up hope.

I've been busy sewing today to keep myself busy and my mind of Fat Boy although I did look out of the window and scan the green outside our house on numerous occasions just incase I saw him. But I always find sewing very thereputic and as I need to get some new things in my various shop fronts today was a good day to make a start.

I have a little bag that my Sis bought me that I hang on one of our bed posts that I store jewellery in. It's a handy little thing and I decided that it would be nice to make some. Bags are always so pretty for storing things in I think.

They're only quite small but would be perfect for storing small bits and pieces. Sometimes I find I end up with too much clutter on my bedside table~ handcream, eyecream, lip salve, nail file.... All of these would be much better if I tucked them inside one of these little bags and hung it close to the bed for evening watching telly in bed pampering sessions.

As is always the case, once I dragged out a lot of my fabric stash and started on one, I couldn't stop. The first four are available here if you would like one and there are others waiting to be put together.

The night before last we lost our cat. We had only had him about four hours. He came to live with us from my Mum and Dad's where he has been living in their summer house for about four years, but during the night he managed to get through a shut door and out of a tiny high window that we had oh so stupidly left open. Today I am feeling so sad and so guilty.

Fat Boy(named by my Dad as Fat Boy Slim as he was rather large) turned up on Mum and Dads door about four years ago along with three other strays. Mum being such a cat lover started feeding them much to Dads distress(not that he doesn't like cats but he thought four was a little excessive and expensive!) and before we all knew it they were well and truely settled at The Old Coach House. But they couldn't come in the house because Smokey, Mum and Dads pet cat wouldn't allow it. So Mum set up cosy beds in the summer house and fed them at the back door. Three of them were a little nervous but Fat Boy became very tame and always wanted a stroke and a cuddle. I grew very attached to him and would spend a lot of time with him when I was over there. When Mum and Dad decided to give up the BandB and move Dad said that the strays would have to be re-homed as it would be impossible to move them all somewhere new. Mum agreed and after I little persuasion I managed to get Simon to agree to us having Fat Boy. We've been putting off the move a little but as Mum and Dads move is now hopefully just a few weeks away we made plans to pick him up on Tuesday night. We drove over early evening and after a quick cup of tea Dad got him into Smokey's travelling cage. He was not happy. We put him in the car and I sat next to him but he cried all the way home. The most heart wrenching cry I have ever heard. When we got him home we got out his cosy bed and put down food and water then let him out. He was clearly terrified. I know that when Mum and Dad took on Smokey, because his owner had died, he was nervous, and inquisitive, but not terrified. Fat Boy went straight to our back door crying to go out then went and hid behind the sofa. After a while he came out, went to the kitchen and managed to get himself down a gap next to the fridge. It was almost impossible to get him out and he was clearly getting more and more frightened and we were getting more and more upset. Finally we managed and tried to settle him for bed. Our kitchen is open to the hall so we decided to give him the run of the kitchen, hall, landing and stairs and shut all other doors incase of accidents. I left a little light on in the kitchen, tried to show him his food and spent a good twenty minutes sat on the stairs stroking him and trying to calm him down. But his little heart was clearly racing and although he was letting me stroke him, he was also shuffling as far into the corner of the stair as he could. I felt terrible that he was so frightened and started to wonder if we'd done the right thing taking him. We went to bed and hoped that he would calm a little during the night.

At five yesterday morning we both woke up. I decided to get up and check on him. As I got to the top of the stairs I hoped to see him in his bed at the bottom but there was no sign. I crept down the stairs hoping to see him curled up in the hall but instead I saw the sitting room door open. A door which I know I had firmly shut. I walked into the room expecting that he would be behind the sofa again but immediately I heard a sound that chilled me. The sound of a rather unpleasant siamese cat that lives close by and spends most nights yowling at neighbourhood cats. He was clearly outside the side window and I guessed that Fat Boy was on the window sill. But as I got near the window my heart started pounding as I felt a distinct draft. I realised that the top part of the window was open. We'd opened it a little when we got home earlier and the house had felt stuffy which we had thought might have made him even more uncomfortable. In all the stress of him getting stuck beside the fridge both of us had forgotten to shut it before we went to bed which would have been ok if he hadn't managed to get through the sitting room door.

I ran upstairs to get some clothes on and tell Simon. Within a minute we were outside and what I expected to see was Fat Boy and the Siamese, but it was another cat and there was no sign of Fat Boy. We have no way of knowing how long he had been gone. Simon took a torch and in his dressing gown he scoured the immediate neighbourhood but he was nowhere to be seen. Given how terrified he clearly was I would imagine he ran like the wind when he made it out the window.

We are both feeling a mixture of sadness and such guilt. I feel we have let him down. We took him in because Mum and Dad couldn't take him with them but we clearly terrified him in the process. Mum has always been convinced that he wanted to be inside as he spent quite a lot of time peering in their cat flap, but maybe we got it wrong. Maybe he really was an out door cat. My Sister said yesterday that we shouldn't feel bad. We did what we thought was right and he may have escaped the minute we let him outside again which we were planning on doing after a few days of him being inside getting used to us. But I can't help thinking 'what if we hadn't left that window open'?

I feel pretty sure that he will be ok. He found Mum and Dad four years ago and no doubt someone else will feed him if he hangs around their doorstep. But he is on his own and he is gone from our lives which makes me incredibly sad. My Sister-in-law suggested we put posters up but as he doesn't really know us properly and doesn't know this house, I'm not sure he'd come back to us if someone found him. I just can't decide. We've put his bed in the shed with the door open a jar and food and water out. Maybe he'll wander back this way and find it?

I'm sorry this is so long and possibly rather boring. I just felt I had to write about it. My head is aching because I keep crying when I think of him and wonder where he is and I thought writing it down and sharing it might make me feel a little better. I think the guilt will take longer to go than the sadness. I will be back again tomorrow as I have some prettiness to share and I still haven't shared my Dorset photos but for today I'll still be searching for Fat Boy.

Friday, 4 September 2009

Yes, I edged a little closer to the 'Big 4 0' yesterday with my Birthday and what a lovely day I had.

A day spent with my Sis and the 'little ones', followed by Birthday tea with my other nephew with whom I share a Birthday, and taken out for dinner by my gorgeous hubbie in the evening.

I was very spoilt too. Much needed pennies(well £s actually) from my Mum and Dad, the most gigantic bottle of my favourite 'Femme' perfum from Simon, CathK handcream and a renewed subscription to Country Living from Simon's Sis and hubbie and two gorgeous items pictured in this post. The little cupboard below is from my in-laws. As they knew they would be away this week, my Mother-in-law asked me to let her know what I wanted for my Birthday well in advance. At the beginning of the hols we went to Belgium with them for a couple of days to our favourite little town, and while we were there we popped in my favourite little shop which actually isn't little at all, but a whole town house of beautiful home accessories and furniture. She said, why don't you choose something here and we'll buy you it. Well I needed no encouragement and after much looking I settled on this little cupboard. The moment I saw it I had in mind to do something like Jane's sweet cupboard and finally have somewhere pretty to store my beads. I think I may paint it cream although I do kind of like this soft grey.

As for the framed 'F', this is my most beautiful present and it is entirely handmade by my very talented Sister! Isn't it just gorgeous?

I'm not sure that my pictures are really doing it justice. The light is not fantastic today and I'm getting light reflecting off the glass of the frame. It really is stunning. So pretty and with such intricate detail. I've told her she should open up a little etsy shop and have a go at selling them. What do you all think? The thing is that at the moment she produces similar, although more complicated creations which she sells as textile designs through an agent to the likes of M and S and Monsoon and various companies in the US to be used on all sorts of things from greetings cards to wrapping paper to embellishments on children's clothing. She gets really quite a lot of money for these designs as they will be used in so many different ways by the companies who buy them. Making smaller pieces would make less money per piece, but each piece would be quicker to make and I'm convinced they would sell like hot cakes. She'd love to know what you all think. She's a blog reader but not writer and knows how important the opinions of the blogging ladies is!

So another year older and so much has happened in this last year. My first Birthday as a Mrs for a start which is without doubt the loveliest of things. I'm squeezing my Birthday out a bit longer with dinner at Mum and Dad's over the weekend which will be lovely. Possibly our last family meal in The Old Coachhouse as fingers crossed their move will be taking place in a couple of weeks. Wishing you all a lovely weekend wherever you are and whatever you're doing and just before I go, thank you all so much for the lovely response to my magazine feature. Your kind and supportive words mean so much to me. x